Review: The Camp Kit

I remember trying Netflix for the first time. After spending aimless hours in video stores throughout the late 90s, I can’t tell you how powerful I felt as a preteen using the service. Ordering (on the world wide web!) the exact movie I wanted to watch and having it delivered to my house felt revolutionary and it saved me a lot of time and poor, impulsive rental decisions (“Am I more in the mood for The Beach or Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion??” This never ended well.).

I feel the same way about The Camp Kit, except it helps you get outside and that’s why it’s way better. The Camp Kit is an awesome company that allows you to rent backpacking and car camping kits online to be delivered to your house or wherever you are. For someone like me who has wasted hours bouncing around the city to just find some damn trekking poles to rent or a tent for visiting friends, I appreciate both the ease and the quality of The Camp Kit’s service.

Megan, the founder of The Camp Kit is an admitted gear-head and you can tell based on her well-curated kits. We’re not talking Eureka tents here, people (although I kinda love those tents); we’re talking top-of-the-line Nemo, MSR, GSI, Alite, Thermarest. We’re talking lightweight. We’re talking plush. While the gear is high quality stuff you’re often not able to rent at the local REI, that doesn’t mean it takes a ton of experience to use.

In terms of kits, there are three options: 1-person backpacking kit, 2-person backpacking kit, and a car camping kit (they also rent a la carte gear and bear bags). I tried out their car camping kit on a trip to Pescadero with my dearest friend Allie.

Here’s what came in the kit:(Rosé not included, but encouraged)

Instead of going over each piece of gear, here are some pros and cons the overall kit provided:

Pros

The gear strikes a great balance between roomy and luxurious while not being too heavy or cumbersome like a lot of car camping gear. The tent is roomy but not heavy or bulky.

Seriously top of the line cookware and stove for you to make amazing camp cuisine!

Incredibly comfy and warm sleeping bag and sleeping pad.

Very simple and easy-to-follow instructions for how to assemble and use the tent and stove.

Cons:

You’ll need to get your own fuel, which for this MSR SuperFly stove that we got means getting some canisters from a camping store (like REI).

If you need a quick sanity check in the outdoors or are looking to augment your current gear closet, look no further than The Camp Kit to get the job done. Trust me, it’s even better than watching a movie.